Wow! I’ve just realized how long it has been since I updated this blog. In part, that’s because we at GEM Theatrics have been busy planning for the months ahead – and, boy, have we got some things going!

Fall will be a busy season for us. First, we are thrilled to bring our One-Act version of Mary G. Kron’s “My Dearest Friend” to the Morton Township Library in Mecosta, Michigan at 7pm on September 18. Then, on October 15, we celebrate the 250th Wedding Anniversary of John and Abigail Adams with a performance of the Two-Act version of “My Dearest Friend” at the Loutit District Library in Grand Haven, Michigan at 7pm. (The actual anniversary is October 25 – to get your history jones satisfied, click the “read more” link below). Both performances are FREE!

Just one week later, on October 22, we bring our signature piece, “Love Letters,” by A. R. Gurney to OLLI at Aquinas. The show begins at 1:30 pm and tickets are very reasonable, especially if you are a member! We performed there last Spring and look forward to seeing a lot of our friends there!

Finally, we are thrilled to announce that GEM Theatrics will have a new show for the new year! We’ve found a wonderful script by Canadian playwright Norm Foster entitled “Old Love”, and it will be our entry in the 2015 Lake Effect Fringe Festival at Dog Story Theater. “Old Love” tells the story of Bud and Molly, who met at a time when each was attached to others, but whose lives intersected over the years, and their relationship grew. It’s a story of romance, courtship and relationships between older adults and we love it – we think you will, too. “Old Love” has its West Michigan premier February 13 – 15, 2015, just in time for Valentine’s Day. AND, if all goes as planned, we hope to bring “Old Love” to the East side of Michigan with 11 performances at The Snug Theatre in Marine City, Michigan in July, 2015. Stay tuned for details!

When John Adams met Abigail Smith in the summer of 1759, neither of them viewed themselves as a match made in heaven. John’s friend, Richard Cranch, had asked John to accompany him to the Smith home in Weymouth, Mass. while Richard courted Abigail’s older sister, Mary. Abigail was almost 15; John was 24, and the meeting was, it appears, awkward. John found the Smith girls “not fond, not frank, not candid.” He was all of those things and I suspect Abigail was at first put off by the stout young man who couldn’t hold his tongue. All that changed, of course, over the next five years. As John continued to visit the Smith home, ruled over by the “crafty, designing” Reverend Smith, Abigail’s father, Abigail began to open up and her talk was to John’s liking. Unlike many other ladies of the time, Abigail had been educated at home and was well-read. Their courtship letters abound with references to Shakespeare and Molière – as well as references to hours spent kissing, embracing, and caressing. Indeed, one of John’s most delightful letters of the period laments about his bruised lips! As Joseph J. Ellis writes: “She was marrying a man who loved the fact that she was, as he put it, ‘saucy,’ and he was marrying a woman who was simultaneously capable of unconditional love and personal independence. They recognized from the beginning that they were a rare match. There were so many topics they could talk about easily and just as many things they did not have to talk about at all. -- J. Ellis, First Family, p. 7. On October 25, 1764, budding attorney John Adams married Abigail Smith in the same parlor in her father’s house where she had met him more than five years before. A few days before the wedding, Abigail had sent a cart with her meagre assortment of household furniture to the small house in Braintree, Mass. that John had inherited from his father three years earlier. In a letter, Abigail asked John to take all those belongings. “And then Sir, if you please,” she had written, “you may take me.” He did please, and on that day began a most extraordinary partnership, which lasted, with love perpetually growing, for another 54 years. All of this, and more, is contained in Mary G. Kron’s wonderful play, “My Dearest Friend”, coming to the Morton Township Library on September 18, and the Loutit District Library on October 15. OR, we can come to your venue! Check out the “Book Us” tab to learn more! Come watch us play!